Every couple dreams of staying in a luxurious suite on their wedding night, but for wheelchair users that dream may be out of reach. Wheelchair accessible suites are extremely rare — only slightly more prevalent than unicorns — and, even where they do exist, they regularly feature the same accessibility barriers present in standard-sized ADA room types: missing shower seats, beds that are too high and doors too heavy to open, just to name a few.
Why are wheelchair accessible suites so rare? Are hotels required to supply accessible suites? Find the answers to these questions and more in this edition of the reader mailbag:
John Morris
After our wedding reception, Stevie and I stayed in a Junior Suite at the Marriott St. Louis Grand. It was the only accessible suite we could find in St. Louis, apart from an Arch-view suite at the Four Seasons Hotel that exceeded our budget and rooms at extended-stay hotels like Embassy Suites.
We were excited for our stay at the Marriott — the hotel has a great downtown location and its rooms appeared nice enough, even though they are due for a refresh. The accessible suite was fair, with one critical exception that upended our stay and resulted in what will be a decidedly negative review.
The big issue: In our accessible room with a bathtub, the hotel failed to provide an ADA compliant bathtub seat. Such seats are required to be either permanently affixed or removable but capable of secure attachment. Portable, plastic shower chairs with four legs are not capable of secure attachment to the tub and constitute a violation of the ADA Standards for Accessible Design.
The Marriott St. Louis Grand provided a portable seat, which was made worse by the chair's orientation — its built-in grab bar made it so that chair could only be used backwards, facing away from the handheld showerhead and water controls. There were no rubber leg tips on the chair and the exposed metal legs slid across the bottom of the tub, scratching it. The staff on duty were apologetic, but could do nothing to improve the situation at the late night hour. The insufficient shower chair provided by the hotel rendered the bathtub unsafe and inaccessible.
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When we emailed the hotel about our experience, the Room Operations Manager apologized for "the inconvenience and disappointment you experienced during your stay, especially on such an important occasion as your wedding night."
I pressed further, seeking the attention of the general manager, who I hoped would lay out concrete steps for curing the accessibility barrier. To his credit, he responded quickly with assurances that the ADA compliance issues would be immediately addressed, including through the purchase of ADA compliant bathtub seats.
We will test the validity of that promise in the future. No compensation for our troubled experience was offered — we paid full price (about $375) for the suite with an inaccessible bathtub.
Read more about our wedding day here:
John Morris
